Bits and pieces of a random life

Today is exactly 1 month after the birth of my 2nd daughter, Nikki. And I thought I would document a part of my post natal journey, specifically with relation to getting back in shape postpartum.

Above: Belly size at 35 weeks

Nikki was born slightly early, at 36 weeks and 6 days, 1 day shy of 37 weeks. So the above photo is taken about 2 weeks prior to delivery.

During my 1 month post-natal “confinement”, though frankly, with this 2nd baby, I hardly followed through with any of the traditional chinese confinement practices, I hired a jamu/bengkung lady to help with daily postnatal massage and the bengkung wrap.

There’s actually 2 layers to the wrap. The first is a corset-type thing that is tightly bounded around the entire torso. This first layer is not so bad. Because it is a thinner material than the outer layer (see 3rd photo below), there is still room to move about and breathe! 🙂

Above: 1st layer of bengkung wrap which is similar to a corset

Above: The actual wrap which is tightly bounded on top of the corset

The second layer is a thicker material which is wrapped all the way around your torso. Because it is a thicker material, after the cloth is fully wrapped, it actually becomes difficult to sit down. Makes all daily activities difficult – including bending down to pick anything up (in fact, it is impossible to perform a full bend at the waist!), sitting down, breastfeeding, and pee-ing. 😦

And the photo below is taken on the 25th day after delivery.

I suppose I can’t complain about the “results” of the post natal wrap. Now all I have to do is exercise the remaining fat away – if only I get some time to hit the gym….

When my mom comes to visit us, I like to bring her to dim sum restaurants and eat our hearts out. During her recent trip back to Singapore in November, I wanted to bring her somewhere new; apart from the usual Chinese restaurants we frequent. I started googling for chinese restaurants with a nice dim sum menu and any with good reviews. There were several names that came up, such as Wah Lok at Carlton Hotel and Royal China at Raffles Hotel. Then I stumbled upon Yanting at St. Regis. All three had their fair share of mixed reviews, but Yanting had more positive reviews than negative ones.

So we decided to give it a try. And I must say, it is now one of our favourite haunts!

Above: Under Appetizer, this is shrimp wrapped in longan with wasabi mayo.

Above: The restaurant’s take on fried shrimp wanton.

Above: Siew Mai with Truffle 🙂

Above: Dessert – Vanilla Icecream with jelly in coconut. This was amazing – one of the best desserts, IMHO 🙂

Clearly, that was not all we had, but I did not take all the photos of each dish as I was too busy eating!

Forget about the decor of the restaurant (though I have to say it is definitely not shabby – well, what do you expect? it’s in St Regis.), the food is enough to lure you back here for second helpings.

We love the food there because it is not only tasty, but there is “refine-ness” to its plating, food decor and the taste. Very nice!

At 35 weeks pregnant, you’re feeling really heavy and weighing down on my belly. But I’m sure once you’re out, I would miss you already.

So far, no stretch marks (keyword: yet). We still have another 4 weeks+ to go. Been using Palmer’s cocoa butter lotion in the morning and cream in the night. Let’s see if I can escape stretch marks for this 2nd pregnancy as well.

Lauren is quite the active child to the point that sometimes I’m concerned she’ll be one of those kids who are disruptive in class with very short attention span. As it is, it is difficult for me to get her to sit still in Heguru class. Quite literally I have to hold down her body to make her sit still.

In any case here is a video of her using her scooter at 18 months – we bought this for her at 14 months and she adapted to it quite fast. She was scooting on this almost within the same week that we bought this for her. She does get quite abit of use out of this. One of her more favourite playthings.

Pregnancy makes me do all these silly “beautifying”/”pamper myself” things. I remember the last time I wanted to do something drastic like sign on a facial package that could potentially cost me a few thousand dollars, was when I was pregnant with Lauren. #pregnancymakesmedostupidthings

This 2nd time around, was no different – except I was itching for an eyelash extension. Luckily, little damage to the wallet was done. 🙂

Above: Before eyelash extension

After eyelash extension done at Carragheen.

In both shots, I had no eye make-up on – only my tinted sunscreen and drew my eyebrows on.

I must say it looks not bad – let’s review it again after 2 weeks when I’m scheduled to go back for a touch-up.